Cyprus-Forum.com

[pantelis]

ABSTRACT
This article examines recent developments in the Cyprus
negotiations and suggests a number of changes to the proposed
electoral system. Specifically, cross-voting and other electoral
methods that encourage coalition-building across ethnic
communities might add significantly to the functionality of the
Annan Plan. Combined with other innovative mechanisms
already in the plan, cross-voting could force political parties to
seriously take into account the interests and concerns of the two
Cypriot communities, an element that is currently missing from
both the Turkish Cypriot (TC) and Greek Cypriot (GC) political
systems. Special conditions on the island, as well as the way
most political parties operated in the critical pre-April 2004
referendum period, suggest the need for this amendment.
Although this study respects the consociational logic of the
Annan Plan, it supplements consociationalism with elements that
foster integration and inter-dependence between the two
communities and their voters. The article also reviews the postreferendum
developments in Cyprus which might have
worrisome future implications, not only for its two communities,
but also for EU enlargement in general. Cyprus both holds one
of the keys to Turkey’s entrance into the EU and is a litmus test
for the Euro-Atlantic nexus and its capacity to pacify and
integrate ethnically divided societies in Europe and elsewhere.
By:
NEOPHYTOS LOIZIDES
Belfer Center, Harvard University
ESER KESKINER
Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania

http://www.seep.ceu.hu/archives/issue52 ... skider.pdf

Without reading the entire paper, how do you thing the TCs and the GCs could participate in a common election, each person voting as equal to an equal, one man one vote, without wanting to kill each other?
What could they vote for, that the result, whatever the result, could be acceptable to all, without polarizing the two communities?
Is there anything of common interest that we could decide together, while respecting the opinion of combined majority?
Suggestions anyone?

[Alexandros Lordos]

Without reading the entire paper, how do you thing the TCs and the GCs could participate in a common election, each person voting as equal to an equal, one man one vote?

Panteli,

"one man one vote" was not the spirit of the article. What the authors are advocating is a system of weighted cross-voting, which we have brought up in this forum many times already.

I think it is a great idea, it could solve most of the "decision-making problems" of post-solution Cyprus, and this article fleshes out some of the details involved ...

[magikthrill]

Yes I remember Alexandro made a very good suggestion regarding cross-voting. I believe the basis of the suggestion included:

1) unlimited residency in any state (like in every FREE and UNITED country)
2) the votes of the TCs in the southern state and of the GCs in the northern state will count only up to 1/3 of the total votes.

Of course, something that comes up when discussing the issue of a truly united country is what makes someone a resident of the north and what makes someone a resident of the south? Is it his name? The color of his skin? His language?

And what if someone came to Cyprus and managed to gain citizenship status. Would they choose where they would want to be residents? How would this work?

[brother]

It all stinks of a velvet partition.

[magikthrill]

what do you mean brother?

[metecyp]

what do you mean brother?

People like to be mysterious in this forum

[pantelis]

Alexandre,
I understand what these guys say. I am looking for a “vote” without formulas or percentages.

"one man one vote" was not the spirit of the article. What the authors are advocating is a system of weighted cross-voting, which we have brought up in this forum many times already.

I think it is a great idea, it could solve most of the "decision-making problems" of post-solution Cyprus, and this article fleshes out some of the details involved ...

I am asking a simple question. Is there anything that the Cypriots, both GCs &TCs, could decide together by a simple majority vote, without looking at it as, "us & them" or "ours & theirs"? Is there anything that they could decide together, as a collective electorate, without crossing into each other’s ethnic or religious "objection fields"?
An example:
A vote to decide Cyprus’s National Vegetable ..... say the cucumber or the artichoke?

[brother]

MT, anything that involves people not being able to live or vote where they want on their own island is a form of partition, i can not accept this as a way forward.

[pantelis]

anything that involves people not being able to live or vote where they want on their own island is a form of partition, i can not accept this as a way forward.

I'll second this one, Gardash!

[Alexandros Lordos]

Alexandre,
I understand what these guys say. I am looking for a “vote” without formulas or percentages.

"one man one vote" was not the spirit of the article. What the authors are advocating is a system of weighted cross-voting, which we have brought up in this forum many times already.

I think it is a great idea, it could solve most of the "decision-making problems" of post-solution Cyprus, and this article fleshes out some of the details involved ...

I am asking a simple question. Is there anything that the Cypriots, both GCs &TCs, could decide together by a simple majority vote, without looking at it as, "us & them" or "ours & theirs"? Is there anything that they could decide together, as a collective electorate, without crossing into each other’s ethnic or religious "objection fields"?
An example:
A vote to decide Cyprus’s National Vegetable ..... say the cucumber or the artichoke?

Panteli,

to place your concern in context, we should remember that the Annan Plan - or any Federal Solution Plan for that matter - provides for a House of Deputies where MPs will be elected according to the "One Man One Vote principle". We keep focusing on the Senate and forget this important institution.

The problem with the Annan Plan as it stands now is that the House of Deputies does not have any specific responsibilities, everything is just lumped together with the Senate. In contrast, most Federal Systems allow the "proportional house" to have the initiative in preparing bills the consequence of which will affect all individuals in the same way - most notably, taxation related issues. The bill would still have to be ratified by the Senate, and in this way the TC community is protected from "GC majority abuses", but 95% of its content would originate from the "one man one vote" House of Deputies.